The present invention relates to the construction of multi-unit condominium structures. Specifically, the present invention is a multi-unit condominium structure constructed using configurable space designs so as to allow a developer the flexibility in the process of constructing the individual condominium units in a more real time manner to meet a specific buyer's changing desires and to meet more effectively buyers' desires and sales demands in general.
Of the various decisions facing a project developer, none is more critical than determining the number and mix of different unit floor plans that should be built in a given area or at a given time. Typically a developer uses economic and demographic principles to forecast the future demand and based on this prediction then commits early on to build specific architectural designs to meet these forecasts. However, the bulk of the units will not be sold until after the construction has commenced or even finished, typically one to several years from the date the developer committed to the mix of units and from the initial date that construction commenced. For purposes of construction, the terms “builder” and “developer” are used interchangeably herein.
A principal problem with this traditional method of development is that it is often difficult, if not impossible, to forecast demand months and years into the future. Changing circumstances, such as a change in interest rates, a change in the local economy, the personal desires of future buyers, or the effects of other competing development projects are unforeseeable at the time that the demand mix is forecasted. Since even the proven economic and demographic methods used to forecast the demand mix are often inaccurate, lacking the ability to accurately predict such extraneous factors forces the developer to select a building structure and floor plans based on the best information available at the time. This approach can incur significant risk in that once the building structure and design mix of units is committed to and fixed and the construction subsequently started, the flexibility to change architectural aspects of the construction is limited and subsequent changes can be difficult and costly. Consequently, this inherent inflexibility to allow structural design changes and significant floor plan changes after a development or building(s) is platted and or construction started severely impedes a developer's ability to rapidly adapt an otherwise less desirable platted or under construction design to a more favorable one desired by a current buyer.
Prior attempts at addressing this problem such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,625,937 to Parker et al., discloses a method of constructing low cost modular housing in a manufacturing facility. The patent discloses the production of standard prefabricated modules that may be arranged in various configurations to produce a variety of floor plans. However, when the invention is used to construct multifamily buildings, the buildings are not arranged based upon buyer demand and the modules are not varied in size or shape. Additionally, the invention does not teach a flexible method by which a design can be changed in a manner to meet current buyer desires.
What is needed is an improved flexible method of constructing multi-family condominium units as well as single family dwellings in a more real time adaptable approach based upon current buyer's desires and demand rather than the traditional method of fixing predetermined architectural structures and floor plan designs to projected requirements based on potentially inaccurate market forecasts.